Obamas Foot Their Own Decorating Bill

They'll pay for White House interior overhaul with their own money, thank you very much

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President Obama does not need your money or your input about what to do with this shabby little shack he's living in.

Well, isn't this fancy! It seems the new president and first lady are turning down taxpayer funding to redecorate the White House and are paying for the whole thing themselves. This is an insult to every hard-working citizen who, every April 15, gladly signs over a check to the federal government knowing that some small portion of that money will go to White House furniture.

You will recall that then-candidate Obama spent much of the 2008 campaign "measuring the drapes," and now we know why: because he was deviously plotting to spend thousands and thousands of his own dollars on them. Freed from taxpayer ties, he can be as extravagant as he likes and not have to report on a single cent of his expenses. Why, he and Mrs. Obama have already engaged the most horribly profligate of all interior decorators ever, one Michael S. Smith, who famously procured an $87,000 rug for the odious Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain.

Obama the Family Man

All of President Obama's talk about "transparency in government" rings a little hollow once you find out that we, the voters, will not be treated to an itemized accounting of the White House redecoration. How will we be able to trust in the thrift and prudence of our leader if we don't know how much he spent on ottomans or new wallpaper or fancy flower-shaped hand soaps? And how will we be able to respect the allegedly penny-pinching, J. Crew-loving Michelle Obama, if we do not know how much she spent to get a new White House china pattern? (The Obamas have also declined funding from the White House Historical Association for this important expense.)

Quick, somebody start up an online petition. We demand transparency and accountability in government! We demand to fund the White House redo so that we can know how much the Obamas are spending on bidets!